Patiently waiting for Truth

Even JW members are not aware how own "faith" operate in many details. So your statement above is not fully "true" and adequate :))

Why this is not enough for you, but you ask for more? :)) Act  chapter 2 is enough for me to put your claim (and JW's claim) into question. It seems you don't believe in Act chapter 2 as answer for Last Days "inspiration". "Last Days" started, according to WTJWorg and JW members, in 1914. You defending JW Truth. Do you stand for their truth about 1914 as start point for "Last Days"? If you do, what is problem when Act chapters 2 said how God will "inspired" "all people" in "Last Days" (from 1914 on)?
If 1914 is starting point to "Last Days", according to official doctrine in JW Church, how it is that JW Church denies Act 2:17 as part of "Last Days" fulfillment?
You have problem, not with my reading Bible verses, but with your reading Bible verses and statement you made:  there are NO inspired prophets that came forth after Apostle John ... 
and with Act chapter 2: In the last days, God says  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Do we living in "Last Days", as your JW friends claims? If you agree with your JW friends you will also say, "Yes". 
Now, you and your JW friends need to find consensus about Act 2 17. About what "Last Days" is about in this verse and when this "Last Days" started or will start? Am I missed the point?? :)) Or you?
When you answer on first part of enigma than second part will be normal component, constituent part of "Last Days".

Norwegian newspaper confirms Furuli disfellowshipped
Furuli has been disfellowshipped from Jehovah's Witnesses
I can confirm that I am now excluded, says Rolf Furuli, who for nearly 60 years has been a key figure in Jehovah's Witnesses nationally and internationally.
Furuli says he takes the exclusion with great calm. Usually, such an exclusion will be terribly heavy. Your entire network is broken and friends will no longer talk to you. But for me it is not so. I have a network all over the world of scientists and elders who see the problems in the organization. These I want to keep in touch with, says Furuli.
Vårt Land has been in contact with Jehovah"s witnesses spokesperson in Scandinavia, Dag Erik Kristoffersen. He says he has no information about a possible exclusion of Furuli, and that he is therefore unable to comment on the case at this time. But Cato Pretorius of the Torstrand congregation in Larvik, Furuli's local congregation, confirms the exclusion. Since this is publicly known, we can confirm that he is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses, he writes in an SMS to Vårt Land.

And one other thing that puzzles me is, in the ARC investigation the Australian Bethel seemed to have reports of CSA going back 50 years, but in America, where the religion started, they only have reports / database going back to 1997.  So i wonder what they did with all previous reports ? Did they destroy them ? There could have been information previously about men that have 'high positions' in the Org now. 
 

And your point? I merely stated that we can do much more to help the children out there when we apply better solutions, as even prompted by those who fight child abuse the correct way.
No SM, what you said was  :-
For someone who is this keen on mentioning CSA time and time again,
Hence my comment about my last SIX topics.  Don't sidetrack on what you've actually accused me of. I mention CSA when there is a need to mention it. 
I think Space Merchant and others are in for a big shock within the next twelve months. I think things would have progressed quicker but the virus I presume has quietened things down in the USA proceedings against the GB and CCJW,  or is it just that i have missed something ? 
The IICSA are still working on the investigation here in the UK. 
If charitable status is taken away from the CCJW in Australia and the UK they will find life a bit difficult, and if they are asked to open up all of their accounts for inspection by the Authorities then i think many more questions would be asked. 
As for SM, he seems to think that the hundreds of CCJW CSA victims are telling lies or just making up stories. The GB and their 'soldiers/police force' have done a good job of hiding paedophiles in the CCJW and a good job of convincing many people that it does not exist. 
Of course the Devil does a similar job of convincing people that he does not exist too. 

Yes, rather bossy isn't he  

My last SIX topics I've put up on this forum do not relate to CSA, so stop exaggerating @Space Merchant
And even then you tear my topics to pieces. So, sorry SM, I cannot take you too seriously. You also take a lot of words to say very little. You seem to go round and round in circles. 
The only people that KNOW how a faith truly operates are the people inside that faith. I laugh when you say you can speak with Elders on a neutral footings, that is so funny. Elders will tell you what they want you to know. And the GB have said that Elders can tell lies to protect the CCJW Org. They call it 'spiritual warfare'. 
Quote " I would like you to point out as to what I do not know - please do, I want to see. "
That has been done many times, BUT YOU DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT PEOPLE TELL YOU, because you THINK you know better. 
There is exaggeration on both sides. the very Anti-JWs that make videos etc exaggerate the problems. AND the GB, Writing Department, COs, Elders exaggerate in the opposite direction. Please remember that the GB said it was all apostate rumours, until a lot of it was proven as fact.
As for CSA being Earthwide, everybody knows that. But, this is a JW forum and I am only interested in the CCJW.
True Christians should be 'no part of the world'. And true Christians should not be trying to solve worldly problems. If a person is directly involved in an incident or can help those close to them then yes of course help, but, not spend time or money trying to put right things the world over.
My point of being on this forum is, to either see the CCJW / JW Org / Watchtower, cleansed by God through Christ, or, to see the beginning of a new religion that will serve God properly. I am therefore not looking at 'the rest of the world' from this viewpoint. 
As for this comment of yours :-
" it is striking that even solutions provided by the ones you seek aid from, it often ignored. "
Who are you suggesting that I am 'seeking aid from' ? For in my opinion only God and Christ can set matter straight. 

I'll say one thing again :-
You have to be an ex- 'JW' to KNOW how the Elders and the CCJW works.  Just reading info' about JW Org does not give a person the real insight. Unfortunately Space Merchant THINKS he knows the CCJW / JW Org, but he doesn't.  No matter how much you read about something it does not match up to personal experience. Some of us do not just rely on news media reports, we actually know what the CCJW is like first hand. 

@Equivocation As you can see, as pointed out in the past, everyone has these types of behavior, and a minor form of bystander syndrome, in this regard, child abuse. 4Jah2me speaks of child abuse, but he fits the category of those who really do not take much action, but speaks about it, that is among what I cited, even you JWs express this among the fold. The irony is he thinks I am blinding you because of the behavior of such he is expressing, which is something common with ALL men and women regardless of the situation, one does not need that much discernment to even see this, especially when he has a platform to take action, but disagrees with helping, this is why I posed the question and challenge a while ago.
That being said, it is very obvious as to what being part of the world is (his interpretation vs. The Bible and it's Principles), I don't think you or anyone else have to explain this to someone who clearly can read the Bible and figure this out for themselves - granted if finds all of you guilty anyways.
Other than that, as stated many times, all children, even JW children matter, and any man or woman of sin will get found out - Numbers 32:23.
 
Also he speaks for all JWs in the UK, but he does not know that there are some JWs in the UK that do not even fit his description, so he is pondering on his own experience. 4Jah2me will be quite amazed if he ran into one that I know, one that I had challenged, Kathgar.

@4Jah2me I don't think Spacey is blinding anyone especially the fact is that due to a lot of the things he says covering child sex abuse, he so speaks of his experience, i.e. helping children to learn what child sex abuse is and how to see the signs and all that is a major plus👍🏾. So what he is saying is 💯 true and it is not just with Jehovah's Witnesses, but people in general, all over the world.
We can take you for example - You practically mention child sex abuse all the time, but you haven't taken action whatsoever, well, from looking at the conversation between you and spacey, you ignore the very point he made, then you went on to say that someone who has experience with helping the general public know about child sex abuse, knows nothing at all, although false, but that is what you pressed. Spacey is the opposite, he not only speaks on child sex abuse, but he has done something about it by teaching not just children, but adults about child sex abuse and his actions actually caused positive growth.

So in short, both of you speak about it, but only one of you, in this example, spacey, has and continues to take literal action on child sex abuse in general, heck, he even challenged me and JTR on this a while back.

So as for the publications, like what was pointed out, people who read them understand what child abuse is and understand the signs of both the abuser and someone who has been abused. Even outside of the publications, this is something that is practically, especially in different cultures where the bond between a parent or guardian and child us strong. Likewise with us Jehovah's Witnesses, like the general public, some of us know and take action, others know but don't take any action because they don't know how to execute a plan against the problem, and then you have those that clearly have no idea of anything at all.

By the by, our elders at our hall are capable of dealing with the issue, so to throw all elders into the same basket is kinda silly.
Don't know why you voted down something that is true 🤔 unless you have something to say that would be much appreciated, 4jah2me.

Some child sexual abuse survivors will miss out on compensation because organisations like the Jehovah's Witnesses refuse to join the national redress scheme.
Religious, community, charity, education and sporting groups that fail to meet Tuesday's deadline to join the scheme will be "named and shamed" and face possible financial sanctions and changes to their charitable status.
The Jehovah's Witnesses refuses to join despite the threatened action and legal service Knowmore expects other survivors will also miss out because the organisation responsible for their abuse has not signed up.
"This will result in survivors receiving nothing," Knowmore principal lawyer Anna Swain told AAP.
Institutions have had two years to opt into the redress scheme, with some Knowmore clients saying "they're punishing us" or "they're waiting for us to die".
Read more: https://www.murrayvalleystandard.com.au/story/6809515/some-child-abuse-victims-wont-get-redress/
#childabuse
 

Obtain your copy now at the link below while the supply lasts:
‘Tom Irregardless and Me’—Starting with Prince, a fierce and frolicking defense of Jehovah’s Witnesses. A riotous romp through their way of life. “We have become a theatrical spectacle to the world, and to angels and to men,” the Bible verse says. That being the case, let’s show some theater! Let’s skewer the liars who slander the Christ! Let’s pull down the house on the axis lords! Let the seed-pickers unite!
All persons with names like ‘Irregardless’ are real though generally composite. You can meet them in my circuit or even yours. Events related are faithfully depicted except for a few that I’ve made up. Persons with names recognizable from history or current events – you’re nuts! – it’s not those people at all!
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/686882
”Puts Rolf’s book to shame!”.....Oscar Oxgoad
”A highly entertaining author—especially if you’re not fussy”.....Tom Brexit
”Acceptable after a fashion. But his grasp of science and is weak, and his critical thinking abominable.”....Bernard Strawman
”A pack of lies! I hate it!”.....Vic Vomodog
”His chapter on blood transfusion taught me some valuable lessons.”....Dr Max ‘Ace’ Inhibitor

If it was JWI, you’d still be reading it. 
Because that “merely” is a pretty big merely. 
What if my roof caves in tomorrow and I decide it’s God’s fault? What if I park on the Kingdom Hall lawn, the elders tell me not to, and I say, “Oh yeah?! Well I show you right here on my blog!!!!” If I do it at Bethel, the GB will “merely” decline to put their stamp of approval on my rant—they will put me on potato-peeling detail in the kitchen instead, and call up someone from the bullpen who has his head screwed on straight. But if I am a loose cannon with my own blog—there is nothing anyone can do when I go haywire. That’s why I don’t ever expect to be acknowledged for my self-appointed role as an apologist, much less commended for it. Even the real apologists of the early centuries have not fared will at the hands of the writing committee, that tends to focus on things they got wrong.
No, the “merely” is a big deal. It makes for constancy and consistency. Call it a “think tank” at Bethel if you will. It is a concentration of gray hairs and experience, of meeting trials, of knowing they are to be judged for their actions (or inaction), of following up on having brought understanding of the sacred writings to begin with. 
I can just shoot my mouth off here, say whatever pops into my head, insult 4Jah whenever he deserves it (which is almost always), praise the Benoit Blanc movie even though there is crude language—and perhaps I have never faced a care in the world. But they can’t. 
What are my morals? I could (to paraphrase Bob Dylan) “be respectably married—or running a whorehouse in Buenos Aries.” Nobody knows. But the Bethel writers are vetted, not just for being good writers, but for being good Christians. They take it for granted that if your conduct is sullied, somehow that will come out in your guidance, even if it doesn’t seem to at first glance.
I had a friend that, eccentric though he was, had a gift of making complex things simple—even oversimplifying to drive the point home.  I can still hear him recounting to someone just how it works in Jehovah’s organization: “At Bethel, the Governing Body study their Bibles. An idea will occur to one of them. They will discuss it among themselves and when they all come to agreement, it will appear in print.”
“Now, the thing is,” he continued, “you also study your Bible. The same idea might have occurred to you, maybe even before it occurred to them. ‘And if this were Christendom, you’d run out and start your own religion over it.’  But because you know it is not a free-for-all, and you know that Jehovah is a God of order, you wait for material to come through the appointed channel.”
So if they have called themselves “Jehovah’s  mouthpiece” in the past, I can live with that. They have the greatest think tank collection of gray hairs that per the scriptures denotes wisdom, of experience in Christian works, in safeguarding and extending the king’s belongings, in knowing the will be held accountable before God. They have the  greatest sense of direction and following up on momentum. No, I will not do a Miriam and say—“does not Jehovah speak through all of us?” I am happy to have a thought that makes sense—I don’t go thinking I am God’s gift to the brotherhood for it.
The trouble is that there are so many literalists who see the expression “crocodile tears” and take it as proof that the one shedding them is a crocodile. There are so many literalists who do not strive to think of how phrases like “Jehovah’s mouthpiece” might apply, but they strive to think of how they don’t. It is the same with “being led by spirit.” It is almost too explosive a phrase to use because of the literalists—if you go to the bathroom—well—how can you be guided by spirit? since holy spirit would never do THAT!
It’s the same with elders and servants being “appointed by holy spirit.” How do you know they are? To my mind it is because the qualifications are in the Book inspired by holy spirit and the judgment as to how they measure up is made by a (small) “think tank” of holy spirit, and seconded by a traveling minister patterned after scripture—another repository of holy spirit. It works for me. But there will be some who think that if an appointee ever goes bad afterwards it must be that they were not appointed by holy spirit. I think not. Any of these terms must necessarily be “watered down” some when put in the context of humans, “in whose heart the inclination to do bad” is ingrained from youth up.
I think of certain brother appointed upon the recommendation of the BOE. The circuit overseer, an older and very experienced man, okayed the recommendation, with the observation: “He’s not the most humble brother in the world.” He didn’t have to be. All he had to do was to meet each of the qualifications to an acceptable degree. Alas, the CO should have listened to his gut, for the man in time went apostate. He was the one who was a history buff and used to impress the householder by answering, “Because I’m an historian,” when asked how he knew this or that about the past. Once I said to him, “Will you knock it off?! You are a history buff. An historian is when other people acknowledge you, not just you yourself!”
I could be wrong, but I bet the GB has learned to be very leery of such phrases and terms as “mouthpiece” and “inspired” and “spirit-directed”—not just for all the literalists, but for all the critics (who are often the same).  Some things if they say just once, it is magnified 100 times. Other things they say 100 times, only to find it ignored. “Don’t save seats for everyone you know,” they would say about the Regionals, “think of the elderly.” Finally, they gave up, and said to let the elderly in early, and everyone else only after the oldsters were seated. Innumerable directives went unheeded. Yet if they speak just once about “forums,” theIr words are enshrined for all time. I alluded to this in Tom Irregardless and Me. The organization would say that the Governing Body does not endorse such and such, and the friends would accordingly have a helpful sense of priority and focus. And then Oscar or someone would be found doing it, and Tom Pearlandswine would descend to tell him that the Governing Body DOES NOT ENDORSE!!! such and such. You never know what quote will be magnified and what will be forgotten, but I bet they are advancing on the learning curve.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-earthquake-death-toll-rises/
Inside a Mexico City military barracks converted to COVID-19 hospital, medical staff suited in protective equipment tried to calm anxious patients. Unable to evacuate isolation areas, patients huddled under a large beam in the women's ward while a nurse tried to calm one having a panic attack.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-officials-raise-oaxaca-earthquake-death-toll-to-six/2020/06/24/53f63b60-b61d-11ea-a510-55bf26485c93_story.html
Mexico is combating one of the world’s most severe coronavirus outbreaks, and emergency management officials had expressed concern about what it would mean to respond to a large earthquake in the middle of a pandemic.
Civil protection coordinator David Leon said that more than 20 hospitals were damaged in the country, Deutsche Presse reported. Mexican newspaper El Universal reported that in some cases, patients had to be temporarily evacuated.

Totally agreed with you 4jah4me, the society has a huge database, and no matter how much pretty words they write in their magazines or how much people (JWs) like to make excuses for, the fact is that they are still covering it and we had a taste of it here in Australia. The funny thing is that the society has an organised committee for HLC around the world and thats a proof that Jehovah God is with them (according to JWs interpretation) to uphold their man made rules of the blood doctrine but for child sex abuse they cant be bothered to have one small committee to safe guard children 😆😆😆.

Quote @Anna Going back to the fear of apostates, it makes me wonder why they (the GB) are so afraid, to the point of putting the fear of God in you if you so much as glance at something apostate related. That has always bothered me a bit. Are they afraid that their influence be undermined? That people will lose trust in them? If that is so, where then does the trust in Jehovah figure? Are we not supposed to trust Jehovah more than any man? 
It is nice to see Anna ask these questions. It shows she has balance.  But :-
Firstly we have to ask. Who is it that decides who is Apostate ?  And then what exactly are they supposed to be Apostate to ?  Some on here now use the word Opposers.  But the question still remains, Who are these ones Opposing ? 
This is where the GB's fear starts.  Note Anna's words above.  Also note the last sentance.
The GB are frightened that congregants will become Apostates of the GB.  
Now, to pretend that they have more information and to pretend they are guided by God the GB do this :-   Once again I quote Anna. 
However, those who follow the developments in the world and read the guidelines as proposed by human agencies (as you mentioned) will know this pandemic is by no means over, and may last a very long time. We don't need the GB telling us what we already know. However, we do appreciate their reminders and concern. But to cloak this in a way that insinuates they have more knowledge, when all they do is follow the same developments that are accessible for anyone else to read and study, is....well, funny
@JW Insider Tries his best to justify it all. But it can be clearly  seen that the GB are using the Covid-19 situation to try to show themselves as above others and as having 'special' information. 
Is Anna the only JW on here that notices these things OR is she the only one acting honestly in this case ?

This statement has been mocked by those who think it sounds cult-like. Like, 'drink this spiked kool-aid even if you don't agree.'
To avoid additional embarrassment from detractors, the GB have likely been looking for a some practical example that makes sense even to the detractors. So they would have been hoping for something to come up that could be used to explain this statement in a more natural, easy-to-understand context, that didn't sound scary from a "cultish" perspective.
So, it was serendipitous that someone had said that preparing for Covid in their country made no sense to them until it spiked just a few weeks later. Then they understood that the GB direction saved lives.

This will sound a bit cynical, but I assumed that the GB have been on a constant lookout for a really good practical example to make that old quote from the 11.15.2013 Watchtower seem less "scary" to outsiders. They latched onto this one and hoped it would make sense to enough people, and then they searched high and low for a Witness or two who had been "living in a cave."
And I hope that their cave does not get the Internet, because I'd hate to have just insulted someone who is also on this forum. (See how easy it is to contradict oneself?)

Continued....
So going back to the brother who asked the question; "how we would feel if suddenly Jehovah stopped existing". I wonder how we would feel if suddenly if the GB stopped existing? Would we fall apart?
Yes, well said. 
Yes. And funny you mentioned too many chiefs and not enough Indians, I was going to mention that very phrase, lol. Actually, I was going to say you can't have more chiefs than Indians. Same thing.
Going back to the fear of apostates, it makes me wonder why they (the GB) are so afraid, to the point of putting the fear of God in you if you so much as glance at something apostate related. That has always bothered me a bit. Are they afraid that their influence be undermined? That people will lose trust in them? If that is so, where then does the trust in Jehovah figure? Are we not supposed to trust Jehovah more than any man? Does it not reveal that our trust may lie more in the GB than Jehovah? Recently, in one of the study articles it was mentioned that idolizing someone (the reference was to the GB) could become a stumbling block if that someone falls away. Is it then not better to see the "contrasting view" because that might help us be more realistically grounded. And as JWI alluded (I think it was JWI) why try and "hide" something unless we are ashamed of it (meaning the GB) and why not be candid and transparent? Why have all this "secret" stuff for the apostates to dig up and wave around? Stuff that the GB does not want us to read? Do they think our faith in Jehovah is so fragile?
When you believe in God, then this inevitably leads to questions about his purpose for us and the meaning of life. This in turn leads to an analysis of writings which claim to explain that. This leads to admitting that the Bible has the most intelligent explanation, and that Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones who adhere to all of it despite some personal sacrifice on their part.
When you do not accept there is a God, like Amber, all that is no longer relevant.
Of course those who no longer believe there is a God fall back on so called "scientific proof" . And yes. There are things that don't quite add up about the timeline of the flood, the fossil record, and the age of man, etc. but despite that, even JTR, who believes in evolution (with a helping hand from Jehovah) is still with us.

For any intelligent person there is more proof of the existence of God than there isn't. Those who deny the existence of God do it more for personal reasons than because of science. When it comes down to the crunch, in the end, things are always personal, even if people try to imply some other noble cause or scientific enlightenment, or apostate reasoning. So what are the GB so afraid of?
 

Yahweh and Jehovah are fine for the English speaker. Some people also prefer Yehovah, Jahweh and other names that points to the YHWH.
You can say whatever, Jehovah knows who is calling his name in prayer through Jesus. 😁👍🏾

I'm sure TTH will speak for himself, but you probably know that it is difficult to make a clear point without sounding self-righteous. It's difficult to call oneself JW Insider, or my intended name 'Bible's Advocate,' or nearly anything without sounding self-righteous to someone. ("Meekest man on the face of the earth"?) When we have an opinion, it's nearly impossible to remember to put the "IMO" caveat after every sentence, so you just stop doing that and state your position. I'm sure we end up sounding overly confident and self-righteous as a consequence.
(1 Peter 4:11) 11 If anyone speaks, let him do so as speaking pronouncements from God;. . .
But many of us have probably learned a lot and changed opinions over time here, too. I know I have. And I've seen evidence from several others, including TTH. Let's just hope that those opinions have changed in the right direction.
I agree. And I had high hopes for the book providing some value to the GB, if it was in a completely different spirit from his previous books. At this point in the book I saw a bit of love coming through. But when it reverted to a bit of braggadocio I couldn't help but see it as a continuation of his former persona.
At any rate, you are right that none of us can judge correctly, and none of us can see his motives in total. I do agree that what he did might very well have been an act of self-sacrifice in bringing his gifts to the table. I saw it as a mix of good and bad motives, probably because I was unable to give him a clean slate. I'd be happy to rethink my position and concerns about him, and assume that he did not intend to convey some of the characteristics I thought I saw in him.
I promise to re-read and give him every benefit of the doubt, and see what I can make of it.

King David lacked the mental in ability to admit he was wrong....and he was purposely devious...and dishonest....and he absolutely wanted to keep his reputation intact....so now we judge Rolf and condemn him ...let’s leave it with Jehovah....take what we know to be true...think whatever on the rest...but don’t assassinate    his character..unless you are prepared to do the same to King David....to my knowledge he’s not the only one  thinking that about the creative days...I’ve heard it on the grapevine before,,,,
no one has got it all right...not yet anyway,,,,
 

Aaah Tom you talk a lot..you have a lot of words.....and you at times come over as a bit self righteous...why did I chose thinking,,,not for the reasons you so wrongly presume....thinking was ..because I simply often dont know...what to think...is this right...is that right?...is he right...what if I’ve got it wrong?..Am I leaning on my own understanding??....always thinking..because I cannot afford not to...not having your confidence and assurity of one self...so alas..as old as I am...I have to keep thinking...to make sure...You are to cocky Tom...too self assured....but hey...every Congs got one....
If you read his book he clearly explains he spoke up because of the many who were disfellowshipped wrongly ...he had first hand experience ....and there was a lot of truth in this section of his book.
there were other reasons also...but that one stood out to me the most...
I guess he fell on his sword because he felt it was the right thing to do basically..he is getting old..his time is short...maybye there are other reasons..but I don’t know the brother myself..not personally.
ive never spoken to him...never watched him with other brothers and sisters...I have not read his other books....but that would prove nothing....Personally I think he would have done more good staying with in the cong..But he must have thought speaking up was worth the sacrifice.
your on a forum..I’m on a forum...JWI is on a forum...Billy the kid is on the forum.....but that’s okay...our sin is not as big as Rolfs sin after all...Is it?....ours is just a little sin...so we should be right....after all...a forum is different to writing a book isn’t it....Rolf did on a big scale what we do on a small scale...
you gotta give it to him...he had more guts than me and nearly everyone else on this forum...name and picture up for all to see....
we all use monikers ( not you ) because we know very well if we published our names and pictures we would be marked or out in that back room like jack flash.
we have been warned from the platform about forums...when we had meetings...I have anyway....
thats one point he was making in the book...
I totally agree with you that all the scholarly knowledge means nothing with out the basic love...And words are just as useless with out love too....Now I’m writing a novel...picking up your bad habit I think 😉
 
 
 
 

Whether his is narcissistic or not is for others to say, but there is clearly something squirrelly about him. Why he would throw away the brotherhood to absolutely no purpose is beyond me. To throw it away because he thinks the religion JWs practice is all wet is one thing. But he presses the point that his religion is the true one. So why publish an indictment of the GB as you reaffirm everything else. He knows it will cost him (something I myself did’t know, nor some others here). He has counted the costs and is willing for the brotherhood to be severed from him, for something he knows will do no good! He submits his work to Bethel, but when they “refuse” to engage him, he publishes it to make Reddit’s day. The Witness organization will say, “One more bit of opposition? Throw it on the stack,” and he knows they will say that. 
4Jah, odd even in a menagerie of oddballs, says: “I bet your sweating that Rolf wrote his book. I bet you’re sweating that my friends are scheming up other mischief.” Of course I am. But I also keep it in perspective. Could he really have been a Witness at one time, for he seems to have forgotten everything. Wasn’t that his ancestor that was saying to ancient worshippers of Jehovah: I bet you’re sweating that your buddies are “tortured because they would not accept release by some ransom, in order that they might attain a better resurrection.“  I bet you’re sweating that other have “their trial by mockings and scourgings.” I bet you’re sweating that for others it will be “by chains and prisons.” I bet you’re sweating that some will be “stoned, they were tried, they were sawn in two, they were slaughtered by the sword, they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, while they were in need, in tribulation, mistreated.” I bet you’re sweating that my world has consigned them to “wander about in deserts and mountains and caves and dens of the earth.” Wasn’t that his cousin, 4Jahovich, who taunted Dennis Christensen, “I bet you’re sweating that we’re going to throw you in the hoosegow” or two the Russian branch: “I’ll bet you’re sweating that we’re going to declare you illegal extremists.” He has forgotten everything he ever knew about Christianity. It’s as though he thinks Jesus and the twelve are in the “Roman Empire Hall of Fame.”
The trick to doing what I am doing online is to know that I will lose. The villains will have their day in the sun before the Great Day arrives. So am I sweating? I wouldn’t put it that way. Does it cause me concern? Yes. To say I am sweating would be putting it too strongly. I think of the line besieged mothers sometimes use on their offspring: “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.” So it is with Jehovah’s visible arrangement. They brought me into this spiritual world. Of course, they cannot take my faith from me. I have assimilated that and it remains unless I damage it myself. But if it seems that their direction should “take me out,“ I think of that second part of the saying. I know how Christians fared in the first century. They didn’t win the respect and honor of their fellow humans. They were reviled by the general populace, parallel to how JWs are reviled by the general populace today. I will say it is not because of overall GB doings; it is par for the course.
As for Rolf trading away the brotherhood—If I suffer misfortune and vanish from the internet, (as recently happened to a long-time player here) none of my online acquaintances will ever know why. Was I hit by a bus? Did I suddenly go gravely ill? Did I have a bad conscience over confronting the villains? Did I empty my pockets and still not have enough for my ISP bill? Nobody will ever know. But because I stick with the brotherhood, people will know my distress within a few hours, a day or so at most, and they will be people disposed to do everything they can to remedy my problem. All that Rolf throws away to no purpose other than making a statement. Narcissistic? Maybe not, but the symptoms resemble it closely enough that JWI can be forgiven for not knowing the difference.
I run the risk of seeming anti-scholar here, and I am not. I like books. I have read more than most. When the BBC ran a list of the 100 greatest books of all time, I found that I had read over 50 of them—“read” them via Books-on-Tape while working as a janitor. But too many things are phrased as though matters of scholarship, matters of the head, as though “Wisdom puffs up, but not in my case.” Forgive me, but I would not choose ‘Thinking’ as a moniker, even though I do a lot of it—and “Scholar JW” as a handle leaves me cold. There probably was nobody less scholarly than the twelve who accompanied Jesus, perhaps excepting only Judas, who was not from the hills, but from “metropolitan” Jerusalem. There were plenty of scholars at the time, but Jesus bypassed them all—he was looking for those who would do God’s will, as opposed to just studying it—to shake it down in its components with a heady goal of instructing others. “What is desired in a steward is to be found faithful,” Jesus states, not “analytical.” Of course, the head trains the heart—we all know that. But much more does the heart train the head, so that to overemphasize the head seems to be missing the point. There are brothers who wish to be known for their critical thinking, and even by their eagerness to be “led by the science.” It makes no sense to me. The first thing that contemporary scientists will do is to tell you where you can go with your quaint little notion of Adam and Eve. Science is THE tool of those humanists that would defy God. It is enough to keep up with it—we don’t have to venerate is as they do—as the be-all and end-all. Scholarship is a great thing—pour me a double-shot of it—but it ranks somewhat low in Christian qualities necessary for approval before God. To hear some carry on here (not you), it is the ONLY thing that matters.
 

I just got tired of saying “the divine/human interface” and was searching for a substitute. What I hit upon was sloppy. You are right. I should have stayed with what I had, but I didn’t want to wear the phrase out—a phrase that I never intended to mean anything more than providing leadership.
Sure. That’s what I think, too.
I don’t like to split hairs on these matters. I am pragmatic. Moses said that Jesus will “raise up a prophet like me.” He obviously didn’t if we insist on a parallel in each and every respect. Jesus was perfect, Moses was not. Jesus was put to death. Moses was not. So with the GB being like Moses, it is the same—in some respects they are, and in some respects there are not.
Of course. It is organizational leadership I speak of. Even in Moses time, are we to imagine that Israelites could have no relationship with God when Moses was not around? Could they not pray? Did Joseph act as he did because he learned from prior writings, but his counterpart living under Moses would have had to clear it with the prophet first? Of course not. 
It is perfectly fair game for the GB to refer to the murmuring Israelites under Moses so as to encourage obedience today among God’s people. No, they are not like Moses in every respect, but they are enough like him for the comparison to work. God does lead his people, and there has always been something visible for them to hang their hats on—though at no time does this “something visible” preclude one’s own relationship with God or one’s own study of the scriptures.
Of course they are just men. Paul and Barnabas were just men, too, though the crowds concluded differently and it was hard to restrain them. Even when the man behind the curtain says “Here I am,” the crowd wants to put him behind the curtain again and believes he is other than what he has just said he is. That’s all the GB is doing today, saying “Yes, I am a man. Yes, I am behind the curtain manipulating the machinery of organizational lead which is awesome, but I am still a man,” and some of the crowd will still say, “I think he is more than just a man, I think God gives him special spirit, I think....”—that’s just the way people are.
We can overthink this and in doing so become obtuse. In some way Jehovah leads his people today. Since the restoration of pure worship 150 years ago, leadership has been in connection with those supplying the printed spiritual food. There is no reason to think that should change, any more than you change horses midstream in the Jordan. This, too, is not rocket science. It is simply common sense. The men who brought the truth to us in the first place are the ones to defer to. If there is the occasional incidence of roller derby there at Bethel it does not mean that the answer comes from Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or however Rolf gets the word out these days. When people say of the GB, “They’re no Moses,” is is mostly because they want to rebel.
 I write supportively, as a apologist. Rolf writes as an investigative reporter—blowing the cover off what he thinks is THE top story. At most I will say, “There is a downside to this or that practice.” It’s not my place to “propose reforms” as Rolf does via Amazon. As you know, you are my heroine, for doing the most commonsense thing in the world: familiarizing yourself with apostate reasonings so that should your loved one come across them one day and be stumbled, you are able to do more than say: “DON’T READ THAT STUFF!!!” an answer that you know as well as I will almost always work to your loved one’s disadvantage—once the toothpaste is out of the tube it does not go back in again, and your loved one’s newly discovered information source will certainly say: “You see? What did I tell you? They want to keep blinders on you!”
We have elevated the ‘apostate’ practically to the status of bogeyman. “Run!!!!” we say, at the first possibility that he may rear his head, and all but throw a brick through the TV should he appear there—and it runs so contrary to the spirt of boldness that Christians are supposed to cultivate, and a willingness to always be ready with a defense of the faith, that people are nearly stumbled over THAT. 
It is a little like when Satan challenges Jehovah in the garden of Eden, and people say, “Why didn’t God just beat the snot out of him?” Because it is a moral issue that has been raised, not one of who has greater power. So when we verbally beat the snot out of ‘apostates’ and insist ones not go there on any account since they do nothing but lie—well, are not there some parallels? 
Now, the counsel not to hang out with ‘apostates’ is good, as is the counsel not to ‘engage’ with them. There is no mystery as to why people go ‘apostate’—like Demas they loved the present system, they “went out because they were not of our sort,“ they refused counsel to focus on the rafter in their own eye rather than the straw in another, they beat up on their fellow slaves when it seemed the master was delaying—there is no mystery at all to these things, and my spirituality has only grown in seeing, not just why people accept the truth, but also why, after accepting it, they reject it. Just why does “the sow that was bathed return to the mire?” The answer is no less edifying to me now than it would have been in the first century when it was written. 
There is no mystery in why people go apostate. There IS mystery in how virulent they become, and how persistent. It takes your breath away. With some, it is as though they have found a new purpose in life! even though, in every case, they have nothing better to offer! They can only bellyache about what they don’t like. It is especially so of ones who go apostate to become atheist, which seems to be true of most of those on Reddit, or at least the most visible ones. They have reassessed life and now feel that the remaining few decades until death, with nothing beyond, is a great bargain! It’s like the fellow who saws off the branch he is sitting on and grins as he goes crashing down to earth. It is like the fellow who loses his millions in the stock market, says “they were only paper gains, anyway,” and celebrates the few thousands he still has left. 
So obviously you don’t want to hang out here—what a corrosive atmosphere to let these malcontents hammer you day and night, and if you answer them, they just rephrase their beef and run it through again. Engage with these characters? It’s a little like masturbation (something I have never done, of course, but I am told about it). Sure, there is a rush that comes with answering a fathead, but the long-term effect is subtly undermining and corrosive to personality development. 
So it is a matter of degree. Of course you limit exposure and if some will eliminate it entirely, more power to them. But our track record of being unmarred by apostasy is so poor that at times, I wish we would re-examine that counsel to avoid at all costs even a whiff of it. When Amber Scorah sails through her life, ends up a missionary in China, and her faith and entire life is upended by one chance encounter there, something seems out of whack. Why did she cave so easily? Why wasn’t she better prepared for the contrasting view? When the Russian brother asks about his old friend and learns that one has left the faith because he read literature critical of the organization—literature that we are strongly advised not to read, it exaggerates the power of this crap. It is nothing more than the “sons of disobedience” at work, but it creates an almost superstitious horror among brothers that one chance encounter with an ‘apostate’ can upend a lifetime of dedication to God. I think it even works against zeal in the ministry—we work tirelessly over months or even years to make a disciple, with the underlying “knowledge” that it can all come to an abrupt end if that person so much as talks to an ‘apostate’—how can it not sap our willingness to go through the process in the first place?
Our cure is worse than the disease, and often leads to worse cases of the disease. If Amber is “not of our sort,”  let her learn that before she marries and goes off to China. Then hopefully she will take up a life in indifference to her former faith, and it will just be indifference—not hostility. 
I will at most detail a downside. I will not do a Rolf and call for an overhaul. What a tremendously immodest course that is! The GB is taking the lead, and they can amass scriptures to support what they advise regarding interaction with those who willfully leave the truth behind. Who am I to say those scriptures are invalid? Who am I to say I know better? For every iron I have in the fire, they have 100. I can only reflect on what appears before my own two eyes. They can reflect upon what appears before thousands of eyes. Highlight a downside and move on. Bring your gift to the altar. Maybe someone will say, “You know, that talkative yo-yo has a point.” But if they don,t, they don’t. They don’t have to tell me why they don’t. The expression “There are too many chiefs and not enough Indians” is one of the most under-appreciated bits of wisdom in the world.
I think a significant tell came early on—when Rolf commented how he had submitted his work to Bethel, but they “refused” to take him up on it. How does he know they “refused?” And even if they did, what makes him think that they cannot? They offered no comment on Shultz and de Vienne’s book, either, and the latter issued no beefs about being “refused”—they speculated (I think correctly, in the main) that they were “incurious as to their own history.” They didn’t comment on my books, either, even after I asked them too. Did I carry on about how they “refused” to address my work? I would never dream of such a thing. I’m perfectly willing to accept JWI’s verdict, when he said (more or less): “It’s because they think you are a loose cannon and they don’t want to provide the spark that sets you off.”